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Tried and True Tricks of the Trade

What pearls of wisdom does one pass along to a young colleague just getting started? Is information technology included in your collection of valuable tricks of the trade?

Experience teaches us to foresee pedagogical situations and react to them. Sometimes a few simple pointers can make a big difference in the classroom.

An important first suggestion – Take a look at what your college provides! I would start with the pedagogical learning platform, a resource in constant evolution. Sometimes, even an old hand "evolves" as new educational needs arise. Far from a yoke around our necks, educational platforms liberate us from the tyranny of e-mail and are powerful allies online, outside the classroom and especially in the laboratory.

Why? The possibilities for supervision are limitless;

To track the activities of any one of your students (Are they involved?).

To receive perfectly organized homework saving time when you correct.

To establish a more personal connection with your students (Have you been sick?).

To mark the significance of an event or content element (Please note!).

After experimenting with the platform, some of the activities of online courses such as webquests, forums and televideo conferencing (after experiencing your first learning platform, one gets a taste for the medium and plunges into another) may even be available. Should your students be exchanging information or continuing a classroom debate? IT features on a pedagogical learning platform work wonders for the right situation! Maybe, a complete site filled with appropriate resources should be on this year's agenda.

A second effective pedagogical strategy is to choose resources that lighten your teaching load!

I opted for the software CCDMD plans to develop a web version of open source software during the next year), a relative of the wiki, which is also designed for classroom presentations. Most teachers rely on PowerPoint which is a great way to communicate theoretical material in class and to build on past achievements. One week, we might present some pages of an online document. Another day, perhaps, an entire document will be online. Finally, all the course material will be online.

Obviously, when possible, involve students in the process of their own learning! This strategy produces incredible results from surprisingly simple activities:

A collection of good questions and answers created in Word and presented as a questionnaire in an application such as Netquiz Pro.

A last piece of advice is to make the most of what you’ve already got!

An important asset is yourself. Be your own mentor! You will see that this strategy has several benefits:

Allow adequate time to present theory (Is twenty minutes a reasonable period for this kind of module?).

Have clear reminders at hand before starting teaching.

Note key moments, highlights or low points (Did it work or did it bomb?).

Recognize your strengths (That poem reads really well - I teach literature. Nothing galvanizes me more than a masterpiece of literature brought to life by the rhythms of the spoken word).

Archive your own material! (What a great resource! What is your own opinion of what you presented? - Think about suggesting this to a colleague!).

To help you recognize and play up to your strengths, I suggest recording a course of yours or at least its main points. I do this from time to time with a voice recorder or video capture software (ScreenFlow software is really effective for editing an iPhone version). It's worth the effort!

Don’t forget Profweb’s features which offer the following advantages:

profweb’s resource listings (On the French side, there are over 1000 in French literature!)

stimulating development activities in the Events section of our website

a community of practice through a subscription to Profweb's publications.

These are my pedagogical tricks! What are your venerable tricks of the trade?

Resources published by EDUQ.info

Your Collegial Network Resources

ACPQ

The ACPQ (Association des collèges privés du Québec) is an umbrella organization for 25 college-level teaching establishments subsidized by MESRST. The ACPQ brings together teachers, administrators, and personnel of member colleges for pedagogical workshops that it organizes annually. It also manages support programs for research and international activities.

APOP

APOP meets the professional development needs of teaching personnel by offering online professional development and moderation activities. The purpose of these services is to support teaching personnel in their use of technology on the job. From an introduction to the features of a software application to the development of scripted teaching strategies, concepts are updated in terms of practices and emerging needs.

AQPC

The AQPC (Association québécoise de pédagogie collégiale) promotes the support and development of college educational mastery through gatherings and publications to foster the sharing of experience as well as the adoption of research results, pedagogical innovations and information technology. Among the AQPC’s activities is their annual symposium and the Pédagogie collégiale journal.

ARC

ARC (Association pour la recherche au collégial) works to promote research in college-level establishments. ARC is there to promote research and provide information to college network teachers who might wish to conduct research.

CCDMD

The Collegial Centre for Educational Materials Development (CCDMD) produces computer-based resources and printed documents for teachers and students of the Quebec college network. It has an impressive catalogue of educational materials and participates in a number of highly interesting projects for college teachers, including Netquiz Web, the World of Images collection as well as symposiums produced in tandem with the AQPC to improve teaching skills. The CCDMD works for you and with you!

CDC

The CDC (Centre de documentation collégiale) is the only unique library focusing on college education. The CDC has a mandate to serve francophone and anglophone Cegeps, both public and private, across Quebec. Its collection has been developed specifically to meet the information needs of teachers, professionals, managers, researchers and future teachers of the college network.

Cégep à distance

Cégep à distance is a college dedicated to distance learning. It hosts a diverse student population with a significant student population referred from within the college network. By the very nature of its courses, the Cégep à distance is at the avant-garde of technology. It makes much of the teaching material that it designs available to teachers in the Quebec college network.

DECCLIC

The corporation Plateforme collégiale DECclic hosts and maintains the Moodle environment along with other related services. It also moderates the DECclic community with online help, professional development, and network activities.

IT Rep

The IT Rep/REPTIC Network is a community practice of pedagogical counsellors responsible for the integration of ICTs into Quebec colleges. IT Reps work with teachers at their school to support the pedagogical integration of ICTs. The IT Rep also ensures that the resources of ICT partners have concrete benefits in their setting.

Performa

PERFORMA is a partner dedicated to the professional development and training of ICT savvy teachers. PERFORMA brings together a faculty of the Université de Sherbrooke and 61 college-level institutions. PERFORMA provides access to accredited professional development activities specifically adapted to the needs of college network teachers.

Profweb

Profweb shares inspiring teaching practices in addition to providing articles on educational and digital news from the Quebec college network. Profweb also promotes digital resources related to teaching and learning in colleges and offers a calendar of events. Finally, Profweb offers college teachers a free web hosting environment for their educational projects.

VTÉ

The mission of Vitrine Technologie-Éducation (VTÉ) is to promote and support integration of technology into postsecondary education. The VTÉ is recognized for its technology watch activities, whose results are relayed to the entire network. The VTÉ also disseminates pedagogical resources through means of its rich and comprehensive CERES catalogue—a veritable treasure chest!

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